


Always Family

by BrianJustin4Ever



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Christmas, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:20:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28488948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrianJustin4Ever/pseuds/BrianJustin4Ever
Summary: Buck doesn't show up for Christmas. Eddie and Christopher can't have that.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 304
Collections: Buddie Discord Secret Elf 2020





	Always Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whoallsgayhere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoallsgayhere/gifts).



“Yo, Diaz,” Lena Bosko called as she entered the bar.

Eddie smirked as raised her glass in greeting, but he didn’t verbally answer.

Lena sat down next to him. “Give me what he’s having,” she ordered. “So, you got big plans for the holidays?” she asked as a glass was set down in front of her by the quick bartender.

Eddie raised his eyebrow at her. “Nope. I’m just happy I have Christmas off. I didn’t want to see Christopher’s disappointed face if I had to work on Christmas again this year.”

Lena smirked. “So, it’s just the Diaz boys together?”

Eddie opened his mouth to refute that, and then thought better of it. Buck was an honorary Diaz. “Yep, just the Diaz boys. What about you? Going to visit your family for Christmas.”

Lena sighed. “I got the short straw. It’s my turn to work Christmas.”

Eddie chuckled. “Well, we all gotta do that every now and then.”

“Tell my girlfriend that. She threatened me with the couch. As if it’s _my_ fault I’m scheduled to work the 25th.”

Eddie smirked. “I’m sure you’ll be able to sweet-talk her into letting you back into bed. But in all honesty, sometimes, I’m not sure how people with husbands and wives do it with this job. I know I was going to try with my ex when she came back, but I don’t think we would have survived if I stayed a firefighter. The long hours, the danger, working holidays… Karen is a saint for putting up with this job for Hen.”

Lena opened her mouth to reply when they were interrupted by someone else plopping down in the stool on the other side of Eddie. “Hey, Lena,” Buck greeted before he glared at Eddie. “Did you steal my beer again?” he asked incredulously.

Eddie shrugged. “I was thirsty, but I didn’t want to drink another by myself. It was just a little bit.”

“If you’re thirsty, get water,” Buck retorted, snatching his bottle back, protecting it as if it was gold. He turned his attention back to Lena. “How have you been?”

“Pretty good. Just lamenting about working on Christmas while you guys get it off.”

Buck smiled. “It’s definitely our turn to have it off. No sour grapes from you.”

Lena opened her mouth when Buck’s phone beeped. He took it out, and his eyebrows rose. “I’m getting yelled at by Maddie.”

“What did you do?” Eddie teased.

He flushed. “I forgot I was supposed to be at her place about 25 minutes ago. Oops. See ya.” He stood and quickly made his way out of the bar. It was a good thing Eddie had drunk most of his beer. He didn’t have to wait for the alcohol to leave his system.

Lena and Eddie shared a smile as Eddie thought about his Christmas plans. He couldn’t wait.

* * *

“Where’s Bucky?” Chris asked, his bottom lip sticking out in a pout.

Eddie sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Why isn’t he here? Didn’t he say he’d be here?” Chris plaintively questioned, picking a loose thread on his light sweater.

Eddie opened his mouth to reply that ‘of course Buck said he’d be here’ but then snapped it shut with an audible click because Eddie realized Buck didn’t say anything about coming over. Then again, Eddie never asked him to.

He had just assumed…

How could he be so stupid?

He quickly took out his phone, got up from the couch, and punched in the phone number he knew by heart.

It rang and rang, but there was no answer. And soon, Eddie was listening to the cheerful voicemail message.

He furrowed his eyebrows. Maybe Buck was spending a happy day with Maddie. Or maybe he was spending it with Bobby and Athena, or with someone else. Something told Eddie that thought was wrong, though. After all, he knew Buck. And Buck would never want to feel like he was forcing himself on anyone on a special day.

Eddie didn’t have to think about his next steps. “Hey, Chris, interested in taking a car trip to see your Bucky?”

Christopher cheered as he grabbed his crutches and stood up. “Let’s go, Dad,” he ordered.

The usual 20-minute drive to Buck’s apartment was done in 10 minutes. There was no traffic on Christmas Eve thankfully. Eddie spotted Buck’s truck immediately.

He and Christopher made their way to Buck’s door. Eddie thought about just walking in because even if the door was locked, Eddie had a spare key, but he decided to respect Buck’s privacy this one time.

He knocked and jiggled his keys as he waited for the door to open. Next to him, Christopher shifted impatiently.

When the door finally opened, Eddie’s breath caught in his throat at the morose look that was depicted on Buck’s usually smiling face.

“Bucky, why didn’t you come over? We were waiting,” Christopher complained.

Buck blinked. “Come over? I thought…” He trailed off, looking questioningly at Eddie for understanding.

Eddie blushed slightly. “Well, I kind of forgot to ask you to spend Christmas with us. I kind of assumed you would be that it totally slipped my mind to ask to make sure you’d be up for it.”

A slow smile spread across Buck’s face. “Really. You assumed I would be?”

“Well, yeah. You are an honorary Diaz after all. Where else would you be?”

“Yeah, where else would you be?” Christopher helpfully piped up.

Eddie saw the hurt disappear from Buck’s face that he hadn’t been forgotten about. He was just so much like family that it was done deal they would be together on the holiday that there was no reason to ask. “You don’t have to ask if I’d be up for it. I’m always up for it. I just didn’t know…”

“Well, let’s go then.”

Buck’s smile was so wide. “Hold on.” He disappeared from the doorway and returned with a bag filled with presents. “I was going to stop by tomorrow night to give them to you,” he explained at Eddie’s lock.

Eddie’s heart softened even more and soon, the three of them were in Eddie’s truck, on the way to the Diaz home.

* * *

The rest of the day, the smile didn’t leave Buck’s face as he played with Christopher on the floor. Maybe Eddie should have felt left out that the boys didn’t seem to need him, but he always adored how close the two of them were. It did his heart good to know there was someone who loved Christopher as much as Eddie did.

They did watch a Christmas movie together, and Eddie was needed to make the popcorn. So, he wasn’t completely superfluous.

When it was time for Christopher to go to bed, the ten-year-old looked longingly at the presents underneath the Christmas tree.

Buck wagged his finger playfully. “None of that, Superman. The presents will still be here tomorrow morning. And the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you’ll wake up and open them.”

Christopher demanded Buck read him a chapter from his book before bed, though, so Eddie worked on straightening up the living room while that was taken care of.

About fifteen minutes later, Buck came back. “He’s dropping off, but he wants to give you a kiss before he goes to sleep completely.”

Eddie hurried to do that and rubbed Christopher’s messy hair as his son’s eyes closed, sleep overcoming him finally.

He came back to find Buck sitting on the couch and holding a new bottle of beer. “I got you one too.” He gestured to it without looking up from where he was gazing at it intently.

Eddie’s lips quirked in a smile and sat down next to Buck, their thighs pressing against each other. He felt heat scorch through his body at the feel of it, and he could have sworn he heard Buck’s breath hitch.

And that was what gave him the push he needed. “You know… I had this whole day planned, but half the day was wasted when you didn’t show up.”

Buck glanced at him with an affronted look plastered on his face. “Well, I’m sorry; I didn’t know I was invited. I’m not a mind reader.”

“You don’t have to be invited to come over I thought you knew that.”

“Usually, I do know that,” Buck softly admitted, “But Christmas is meant to be spent with family and—”

“— _And_ you are family,” Eddie interrupted. “And since my plans were ruined, I have to do this a different way.”

Buck looked confused.

Eddie swooped down and claimed Buck’s lips in a quick kiss. Not too heated in case he read everything wrong, but it was enough to show Buck how he felt.

When he pulled back, Buck hadn’t lost his look of confusion.

“I had this extravagant day planned. It wouldn’t be completely romantic since there would be a kid, but it would have involved an indoor picnic and mistletoe.”

Buck blinked as he processed the turn of events. “So, when you said I was family…”

“I meant it, even if you don’t want more than friendship, but I want you to be a family with me and Chris. If you’ll have us.”

Buck wound his arm around Eddie’s neck and pulled him into another kiss, and this one was much longer and more satisfying.

That was the only answer Eddie needed.


End file.
